http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tvlistings/schedule?date=20030405&network=2 Scroll down and look at the 2-4pm ET time slot.
This would be GREAT! Guess it would be Washington at Carolina since that's the only 2 pm game that date. Wonder why the league hasn't announced this yet. I'd heard rumors, but their site still plugs PAX. Obviously, let's hope this is a season-long thing. WUSA 2pm, MLS 4 pm. It'd be way cool.
Would it be possible for ESPN2 to pimp PAX matches and vice versa? For example during the 4/5 match..ESPN2 can plug the matches on PAX via a crawler or on screen graphic or in commercials?
Is the continuation of the PAX deal confirmed? I assumed the thing on the website was just leftover from last season. If they're on ESPN2, who needs any games on PAX anymore?
http://www.carolinacourage.com/schedules_results/ More evidence: The Courage schedule has been changed to reflect a 2 p.m. start. The initial version had the game at 7 p.m.
This is great news. A better place to look would be ESPN International's site. They note the WUSA Soccer match at that time. They also note the USWNT match against Ireland on April 26th.
Yep, this is indeed great news. I guess next week, when they posted the ESPN schedule for April 12, we'll find out if this is going to be a regular broadcast or just a one-off. This begin BigSoccer and all, I have to ask...who does everybody think will be the announcers?
I thought JP did a good job last weekend. I have a feeling this is a one off. Errr maybe. Since the WWC will be broadcast on the mouse eared owned networks...maybe this is a way to build awareness of the tourney and the league? Broadcast several matches here and there to tie everything together. Or we can be really, really opitimistic and think that maybe the league has decided to split up the games betwixt PAX and ESPN's like they did the first year with TNT and CNNSI. OR...maybe we could speculate that St. Phil has decided to buy into the league and that he has made some timebuys on the ESPN channels to air these games. OR....the Chinese billionaire bought a handful (or the whole season) of timeslots. When the league released their schedule a while back I made a call to PAX and one of their customer relations managers called me back and said that PAX was set to air 2003 games. But enough of this ESPN2 mumbo jumbo...let's see the TV schedules of the RNS's for the upcoming season!!!!!! With that being said bring back "Inside the WUSA"!!! Yeah so what if it was very PTH-centric...it was still fun to watch if you could ever figure out when and where it was being aired.
They don't list it on the ESPN international website which has the entire April schedule. Of course, it could be changed. But for now it looks like tennis and golf before the MLS.
According to soccertv, PAX will again be airing weekly WUSA matches after the ESPN2 season opener. Unfortunately, the PAX games are still in the 4pm E.T. Saturday time slot that conflicts with MLS broadcasts. What a drag. Between April and mid June, the match breakdown is as follows: Washington (3) New York (3) Philadelphia (3) Carolina (2) Boston (2) San Diego (2) Atlanta (2) San Jose (1) http://www.soccertv.com/women.cfm Sat Apr 05 11:00AM Pacific Sat Apr 05 12:00PM Mountain Sat Apr 05 01:00PM Central Sat Apr 05 02:00PM Eastern Length: 2 hr LIVE ESPN2 (US) Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) Carolina vs Washington Sat Apr 12 01:00PM Pacific Sat Apr 12 02:00PM Mountain Sat Apr 12 03:00PM Central Sat Apr 12 04:00PM Eastern Length: 2 hr LIVE PAX TV Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) Atlanta vs Boston Sat Apr 19 01:00PM Pacific Sat Apr 19 02:00PM Mountain Sat Apr 19 03:00PM Central Sat Apr 19 04:00PM Eastern Length: 2 hr LIVE PAX TV Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) New York vs San Diego Sat Apr 26 08:55AM Pacific Sat Apr 26 09:55AM Mountain Sat Apr 26 10:55AM Central Sat Apr 26 11:55AM Eastern Length: 2 hr 5 min LIVE ESPN2 (US) Women's International Friendly - Road to Women's World Cup 2003 United States vs Ireland Sat Apr 26 01:00PM Pacific Sat Apr 26 02:00PM Mountain Sat Apr 26 03:00PM Central Sat Apr 26 04:00PM Eastern Length: 2 hr LIVE PAX TV Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) Washington vs Atlanta Sat May 03 01:00PM Pacific Sat May 03 02:00PM Mountain Sat May 03 03:00PM Central Sat May 03 04:00PM Eastern Length: 2 hr LIVE PAX TV Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) Philadelphia vs New York Sat May 10 01:00PM Pacific Sat May 10 02:00PM Mountain Sat May 10 03:00PM Central Sat May 10 04:00PM Eastern Length: 2 hr LIVE PAX TV Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) Washington vs Philadelphia Sat May 17 08:55AM Pacific Sat May 17 09:55AM Mountain Sat May 17 10:55AM Central Sat May 17 11:55AM Eastern Length: 2 hr 5 min LIVE ESPN (US) Women's International Friendly - Road to Women's World Cup 2003 United States vs England Birmingham, Alabama Sat May 17 01:00PM Pacific Sat May 17 02:00PM Mountain Sat May 17 03:00PM Central Sat May 17 04:00PM Eastern Length: 2 hr LIVE PAX TV Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) New York vs Philadelphia Sat May 24 01:00PM Pacific Sat May 24 02:00PM Mountain Sat May 24 03:00PM Central Sat May 24 04:00PM Eastern Length: 2 hr LIVE PAX TV Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) Carolina vs San Diego Sat May 31 01:00PM Pacific Sat May 31 02:00PM Mountain Sat May 31 03:00PM Central Sat May 31 04:00PM Eastern Length: 2 hr LIVE PAX TV Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) Boston vs San Jose Sat Jun 14 05:55PM Pacific Sat Jun 14 06:55PM Mountain Sat Jun 14 07:55PM Central Sat Jun 14 08:55PM Eastern Length: 2 hr 5 min LIVE ESPN2 (US) Women's International Friendly - Road to Women's World Cup 2003 United States vs Republic of Korea Salt Lake City, Utah
Again.. The stupidest thing the league is doing is going up against MLS's time slot on Saturday. Not only does in cut the ratings by a huge percent of what they could be, it also cuts down on getting new fans into the stands.
The ratings, maybe. I don't know how much of an overlap in the TV fan base there is. I do not see at all how 4 p.m. WUSA broadcasts conflicting with 4 p.m. MLS broadcasts keep fans from attending WUSA games. I can't believe that there are people staying home to watch MLS instead of going to a WUSA game. If there are, it can't be more than a handful, and those people, it seems to me, really wouldn't be inclined to attend the games anyway. Live soccer beats televised soccer. If someone is staying at home to watch the MLS on TV, they're doing it because they don't want to go to the live game, for any number of reasons (expense, perceived lesser quality of the WUSA, etc.) Furthermore, a quick glance at the schedule reveals 17 WUSA games currently slated for a 4 p.m. ET start time. That works out to one game a week, so it's not like every WUSA game conflicts with MLS Soccer Saturday. These games are, of course, spread amongst the teams. I'm no fan of the PAX TV contract, but it's all the league has now. And I appreciate that people who are fans of both WUSA and MLS have a decision to make about what they want to view on Sat. afternoons. But I don't think a 4 p.m. national TV game of the week has a negative impact on WUSA attendance.
I'm saying that if more fans of MLS where watching WUSA, more of them would take an interest in attending matches, not that the time slots keep them from going.
Ah, but they can still watch WUSA games. They can watch their local broadcasts, and get hooked that way, if they were so inclined.
grendel posted this article in the Fredom forum: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61754-2003Feb24.html In that article.... Wow. I hope this really comes to fruition this season.
I hope ESPN doesn't show the games on a one-month delay. Seriously, it is great news. The more ESPN games, the better.
From the 2/28/03 USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/wusa/2003-02-28-deals_x.htm So are these a time buy like some people are hinting at?
Obviously, I have no clue if it's a time buy, or something that ESPN is showing because they want to broadcast it. If it is a time buy (and logic would seem to indicate that it is), that's fine with me. Spending money to get their games on ESPN is probably the wisest use of marketing money the league has made in its history so far.
This is good news. A professional soccer league belongs on a sports network, not some banal rerun network. I think the WUSA will pick up a few ratings points from this move alone.
SoccerTV.com had this little message under the listing for the WUSA ESPN game on Apr. 5: Telecast TO BE CONFIRMED and is contingent upon succesful execution of time-buy contract agreement. So that answers Fear's question. I trust SoccerTV.com - they have consistently proven themselves to be on top of things.
What type of rating would be considered a success for a WUSA match on ESPN/ESPN2? Certainly anything over a .1 is better. Do some of you think the league can get a .5 or better on April 5th?
Does anybody know what kind of ratings the USWNT gets on ESPN2? My thinking is that the ratings for the Courage/Freedom game would be comparable to the ratings for a WNT friendly. Same network, same fanbase, and you-know-who will be playing.